Geology Twitter

Lots of excellent Geology news is on Twitter. Two highly recommended tweeters are Prof Iain Stewart and also the Earth Science teachers'association.

https://twitter.com/Profiainstewart          

@Profiainstewart

https://twitter.com/ESTA_UK               
@ESTA_UK

Crater of Death update 2016

Scientists say they have a clue that may enable them to find traces of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs in the very crater it made on impact.

This pointer takes the form of a nickel signature in the rocks of the crater that is now buried under ocean sediments in the Gulf of Mexico.

An international team has just drilled into the 200km-wide depression.

It hopes the investigation can help explain why the event 66 million years ago was so catastrophic.

Seventy-five percent of all life, not just the dinosaurs, went extinct.

One tantalising revelation is that the scientists observe a big nickel spike in the sediments immediately above what has become known as Chicxulub Crater.

This is an important marker that could lead on to the discovery of asteroid material itself.

Old Wellie Dr Sally Morgan was part of the team on the project.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38299804

Earth's slow surface warping

British researchers are now routinely mapping a great swathe of Earth's surface, looking for the subtle warping that ultimately leads to quakes.

The team is processing satellite images to show how rocks in a belt that stretches from Europe's Alps to China are slowly accumulating strain.

Movements on the scale of just millimetres per year are being sought.

The new maps are being made available to help researchers produce more robust assessments of seismic hazard.

The kind of change they are trying to chart is not noticeable in the everyday human sense, but over time will put faults under such pressure that they eventually rupture - often with catastrophic consequences.

This pair of spacecraft repeatedly and rapidly image the surface of the globe, throwing their data to the ground using a high-speed laser link. And by comparing whole stacks of their pictures in a technique known as interferometry, the COMET group can begin to see the very slow bending and buckling that occurs in the crust as a result of shifting tectonic plates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38323832

Geothermal Borehole in Iceland

Geologists say they are close to creating the hottest borehole in the world.

They are drilling into the heart of a volcano in the south-west of Iceland.

They have told the BBC that they should reach 5km down, where temperatures are expected to exceed 500C , in the next couple of weeks.

The researchers want to bring steam from the deep well back up to the surface to provide an important source of energy.

The project is located on the Reykjanes peninsula, quite near  the Blue Lagoon, where a volcano last erupted 700 years ago.

A huge rig stands out against the black lava fields; inside a drill has been operating for 24 hours a day since August.

It has now descended nearly 4,500m, and the team expects it to hit its target depth of 5km by the end of the year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38296251

Krakatoa eruption, the loudest noise on Earth?

On August 27, 1883, Krakatoa (alternately called Krakatau), an uninhabited volcanic island near Indonesia, erupted spectacularly, expelling huge clouds of gas and ash, generating massive tsunamis, and killing more than 36,000 people. Here are a few things you might not have known about one of the most powerful and devastating eruptions in modern history, which had effects worldwide.

Thanks to Finn for the link below, Watch 4:32-6:13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWh66eX_5O8

New Zealand Earthquake

The great wall of New Zealand: Incredible aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has created 15ft high natural barriers across the landscape 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3981546/The-great-wall-New-Zealand-Incredible-aftermath-7-8-magnitude-earthquake-created-15ft-high-natural-barriers-landscape.html#ixzz4RR3xSJon

Amazing cloud formation

Residents in Somerset were in for a surprise this morning, when they spotted what could easily be mistaken for a UFO in the sky.

The rare atmospheric phenomenon is a strange cloud formation, known as fallstreak, or hole-punch clouds.

These unfamiliar clouds form when temperatures are below freezing, but water droplets in the clouds have yet to freeze due to a lack of ice particles.

When ice particles form quickly, it causes a domino effect as the water droplets connect with the crystals, which get heavier and then start to fall all of a sudden - leaving a large hole in the cloud.

The wispy clouds that form in the center of the hole are the water particles falling.

Passing airplanes are thought to be the reason behind the formation of these clouds, since a drop in pressure caused by their wings or propeller tips cools the air quickly.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3831082/Who-punched-sky-Strange-cloud-formation-leaves-hole-looks-like-UFO-Somerset.html#ixzz4MzGIUyU9
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3831082/Who-punched-sky-Strange-cloud-formation-leaves-hole-looks-like-UFO-Somerset.html#ixzz4MzFzuVRQ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

50 years of Volcanic eruptions & Earthquakes

It is a stunning animation showing exactly how the earth moves.

Researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have unveiled the E3 map - showing eruptions, earthquakes and emissions. The team behind it say the map is akin to watching the pulse of our planet.

The map tracks every recorded volcanic eruption, earthquake and major sulfur dioxide emission since 1960. 

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2016/10/12/5959478329016142820/640x360_MP4_5959478329016142820.mp4

We Need a New Definition for “Magma”

Confusion over the meaning of "magma" can generate popular misperceptions, including a nonexistent molten sea underneath Yellowstone National Park. We propose a different definition:

https://eos.org/opinions/we-need-a-new-definition-for-magma

Sea worm fossil gives clues to 'common ancestor'

Fossils of a sea worm that lived on the ocean floor about 500 million years ago are giving new insights into how early creatures evolved.

Tube-like structures once thought to be a type of seaweed were made by a worm that lived a solitary life on the sea bed, say scientists.

Prof Simon Conway Morris, from St John's College, University of Cambridge and a co-researcher on the study, said: "Now we know that they were primitive hemichordates - perhaps the most primitive of all."

"Through them, we can get clues about the anatomy and lifestyle of the last common ancestor that we all share, and this adds further evidence to the hypothesis that the ancestor was a filter-feeder like Oesia."

The specimens, found near Marble Canyon in the Canadian Rockies, are exceptionally well preserved, giving details of the animal's internal anatomy. They rival or are even better than the nearby Burgess Shale.

Equador earthquake

The earthquake in Equador last weekend was perfectly recorded on the school seismometer.

The time gap between p and s waves gave a distance from Wells of 9300km.

Fake rock

The wall of the Junior School playground has had its coping stones replaced. 

Do have a look! The Doulting stone has been replaced with 'fake rock', a mixture of crushed up Doulting Stone + cement poured into a mould to make a cast of the required shape.

Geology Career Pathways

http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/geology-career-pathways

Great Geobake off photos

This entry ('Jurassic Park Toilet Death scene') in the Geol Soc's Geobake off was from Natasha Stephen at Plymouth Uni. Click the link to see other entries.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geolsoc/albums/72157653663003405/with/17541678454/

I am sure there will be another Geobake off this year.

We could have a WCS competition, with a trophy, celebrity judges, 

maybe as a charity fund raiser? 

Winner goes on to compete against biology/English/chemistry/physics/geography/maths etc

in a grand final?

Here's how to make an evolution cake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3vn_5FLees

Indian man may be first to be killed by meteorite

Indian officials say a meteorite struck the campus of a private engineering college on Saturday, killing one person. If scientists confirm the explosion was due to a meteorite, it would be the first recorded human fatality due to a falling space rock.

According to local reports, a bus driver was killed on Saturday when a meteorite landed in the area where he was walking, damaging the window panes of nearby buses and buildings. Three other people were injured.

Keep your eyes open for more news and for verification of this story.

Here is the Daily Mail's report. I thought that gelatine was used in cooking!

Taiwan earthquake: death toll rises with dozens trapped in toppled building

A powerful earthquake in Taiwan has brought down a 16-storey apartment complex full of families gathered for the lunar new year celebrations, with at least 13 people dead and many more feared to be trapped.

Rescuers were searching late on Saturday for more than 100 people still missing after the 6.4-magnitude quake struck in the early hours, with the southern city of Tainan bearing the brunt of the damage.

About 340 people were rescued from the rubble over the course of the day. An entire residential complex of four buildings containing almost 100 homes toppled to the ground, with twisted metal girders exposed and clouds of dust rising from the jumbled concrete.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/earthquake-hits-tainan-southern-taiwan-causing-at-least-one-partial-building-collapse

Volcano prediction

We started 2016 with a bang. Both Chile and Indonesia saw a clutch of volcanoes erupting after laying dormant for a decade or more. This followed an eruption in April 2015, when Calbuco volcano in Chile burst back to life after more than 40 years of silence, with experts giving less than two hours of warning. In an era of global satellite monitoring with proliferating networks of instruments on the ground, why can we still not accurately predict volcanic eruptions?

For information click here.

Further information on volcano and earthquake prediction click here. The image above is from this site.